Prayer | Part 2

Do you ever feel the Holy Spirit that ushers us into our prayers?

He ridicules our good intentions, but he fears our prayers. Knowing this, God has given us an ally, an asset, and great helper, the Holy Spirit. If you have your Bible, turn now to Romans Chapter 8 as Adrian Rogers begins Part 2 of this message titled simply, Prayer. For it is God that worketh in you, the Bible says in Philippians 2 Verse 13, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God works in you, he activates your will. Listen to that verse again, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. So, you have to let the Holy Spirit of God come in you and activate your will. But not only will the Holy Spirit of God activate your will, I'll tell you what else the Holy Spirit of God will do. He will animate your body. It's not only the activation of your will, but the intimation of your body.

Now, what does that mean? It means it makes your body alive. Now, the Holy Spirit that brought Jesus actually, literally, visibly bodily out of that grave, he's the Holy Spirit that came into you when you got saved. Now, if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

You know what the word quicken means? It means give life, energy, to animate. He gives you strength to pray. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwell in you, that Spirit will quicken your mortal bodies. There's something about the Holy Spirit that gives you energy. You know, when the Spirit of God is there, joy is there, and the joy of the Lord is your strength, and when you're in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God will literally strengthen.

He will animate your body as well as activate your will. And you can just say, Lord, I'm weak. I'm fading. I'm numb and sleepy, and my mind is gathering. Well, come Holy Spirit of God. My flesh is weak. The Spirit is willing.

Okay? Now, let me tell you a third thing the Holy Spirit of God will do. Number three, there's the adaptation of our requests in prayer. Now, look at this.

It's very interesting. Go, if you will, to verse 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Now, let's just stop there for a moment and say that Paul includes himself. He doesn't say your weaknesses.

Now, Paul's the greatest Christian who ever lived, and he included himself. He says our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for, he didn't say you bunch of carnal people don't know what you should pray for.

He said, we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now, you ought to accept your weakness for two reasons. Reason number one, it's a fact. Paul said my infirmity, your infirmity, it's a fact.

Number two, it is an asset. You say, how could my weakness be an asset? Well, Paul learned that his weakness was an asset. Put this verse down in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. He asked God to take it away from him, and God refused beginning in verse 9. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Isn't that great? You see, many of us think we're too weak, maybe we haven't been weak enough. Maybe we haven't come to the place where we've said, Lord, I can't.

Have you ever done that? Lord, I just can't. So long as we're struggling, we don't cry out to him. But when we say, Lord, I can't, and you can, and then God says, all right.

Now that strength is a fact that's going to become an asset because my strength will be made perfect in your weakness. What God wants to do in prayer is to deliver us from self-sufficiency. He makes us perpetually weak that we might be perpetually dependent upon him. And so the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. You see, the Holy Spirit of God adapts our request in prayer.

He just moves in alongside of us. Now, look at the word helpeth. It's a very interesting word. It begins with the word assume, which means with. And then another prefix is anti, A-N-T-I. Which means face to face. And then the third word is lumbano, which means to take hold of.

All right, assume, anti, lumbano. That's the word helpeth. The only other time it's used in the Bible I think is when Martha was in the kitchen and she came out of the kitchen like she was mad. Because Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and Martha was in the kitchen fixing a meatloaf.

She comes out there and she says, Jesus, would you tell Mary to come in this kitchen and help me? Now, think of these words. Soon means with.

And anti means face to face. And lumbano means to take hold of. Now, I'm going to tell you how the Holy Spirit, the adaptation of our request in prayer. That's what we're talking about, how he helps our infirmities. I heard Dr. Herschel Hobbs use this illustration.

It was a great blessing to me. He said, suppose here's a man, he has a wagon. And on that wagon he has a 500 pound bale of hay.

And he's going over a little bridge and the back of that wagon tilts and that bale of hay falls out on the ground. So you say, well, let me help you. So you get on one side and he gets on the other side. Now you're looking at each other over that bale of cotton. You're anti face to face. Then you take hold of it with him. He's on one side, you're on the other side.

That's soon with. Anti, face to face. And then you both take hold, that's lumbano and you both lift that load on that wagon.

Now that's a good illustration about what this verse is about. You see, when we pray in the Holy Spirit, we are face to face with him. There is that vital relationship, face to face with him. He with me and I with him and together we do it. I cannot do it without him.

He will not do it without me. But together in prayer, the Holy Spirit of God helps us to pray. There's so many questions about prayer. I mean, what should you pray for?

There's so many needs in our world today. If you go just to pray according to need, that's like trying to bail out the ocean with a teacup. You'll get discouraged. If you try to pray for everything, you'll end up praying for nothing. I've been there.

I mean, you never get finished. There's so many people, so many hurts, so many problems, so many nations, so much to pray about. You just don't know what to pray about. And you don't know how to pray about what you know to pray about.

Aunt Susie, she's sick. Is it God's will to heal her? Or does God want to take her home? I mean, when you pray for the sick, you know, Jesus prayed, Father, I pray for those whom thou hast given me that they may be with me where I am. Jesus is saying, Father, I want them in Heaven. We're praying, Lord, don't let them go to Heaven.

Isn't that true? Now, sometimes it is God's will for people to stay with us. God extends our lives. And God in mercy to us lets them stay with us.

But God has made us for Heaven. How do you pray about dear old Aunt Susie who's walked with the Lord for so long? Jesus is up there saying, Father, let her come. We're down here.

Oh, God, don't let her go. And in most of our prayer meetings in our churches. How many people are praying for the lost that need to be saved? Far more people are praying for the saints to get well. Nothing wrong with that.

It's always seemed a little strange to me. We're more interested in keeping the saints out of Heaven than the lost out of Hell. How do you pray about these things? What do you pray about a troublemaker in the church? Troublemakers, pastor in the church? Well, I've heard about them in other churches. How do you pray about people like that? Do you pray, Lord, get them out or, Lord, get them right?

You may not know how to pray. I know when Saul was making havoc of the church and hauling off Christians to prison and to death. I just imagine how the church was praying about old Saul. Oh, God, strike him dead. God struck him alive.

God saved him, became the great apostle Paul. Hey, folks, it is hard to know how to pray. If you try to pray about everything rather than being a river, your prayer will become a swamp. You have to pray with respectivity and specificity in order to pray with power.

Well, how are you going to know? Well, listen. Listen to this passage of Scripture.

Look, if you will, again. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we are. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Thank God that the Holy Spirit of God, when we pray, will lay prayer burdens on our heart and teach us what to pray for. Now, there's something else that the Holy Spirit of God will do. The Holy Spirit of God will administrate your access to God, the administration of our access in prayer. Look, if you will, again in verses 14 and 15. We've already looked at this, but look at it again in chapter 8, verse 14.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Now, what the Holy Spirit of God does, He energizes you and leads you into the presence of God. Question, have you ever tried to pray and just seemed like the heavens are brass? I mean that your prayers hit the ceiling and bounce back off? And you just can't seem to get through? And God seems thousand of light years away.

You just can't seem to get through. Well, the Bible teaches that it is the Holy Spirit that ushers us into the throne room. Now, I want to give you a verse that you put down in your margin because it refers again to Romans 8, verses 14 and 15. And it's Ephesians 2, verse 18. For through Him, through Jesus, we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Now listen carefully. We pray to the Father through the Son in the Spirit. To the Father through the Son in the Spirit. For by Him, Jesus, we have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, yes, the Lord has invited us to come boldly to the throne of grace.

But you need the Holy Spirit of God to usher you into the throne room. When I was first elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention back in 1979, that ensuing year, 1980, President Jimmy Carter was elected. And he's a Southern Baptist, and I'm a Southern Baptist, and so he was my president and I was his president. He invited me to the Oval Office. I went to the Oval Office. Well, how do you go into the Oval Office?

Well, I'll tell you what you don't do. You don't catch a cab and go to the front gate and go sauntering in and go knock on the door of the Oval Office. You just don't do that. What you do, you go to a particular room and you wait there and there is an envoy for the president who will come and get you and usher you into that office. Even if you've been invited, you need that person to bring you in. Now, friend, the Holy Spirit is that person who will bring you in to the throne room. Throne room, you say, well, I'll never get invited to the Oval Office, Pastor.

Well, let me tell you something, man. You're invited into the throne room. Come boldly, boldly to the throne of grace. And it's the Holy Spirit of God. When you feel the Holy Spirit of God, it'll take you by the hand and bring you right into the Shekinah glory, the presence of God, for by Him, Jesus, we have access by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit unto the Father. Isn't that great?

Not because I said it's just great anyway. You see, it's praying in the Spirit. There's the activation of our will, the animation of our bodies.

Friend, there's the adaptation of our request. We don't know what to pray for as we ought. Then there's the administration of our access as we're brought right in. Now, I must close this, but one other thing the Holy Spirit will do. There's the articulation of our needs. You know, sometimes also when we pray, we don't have the vocabulary. There are things that we cannot put into words. Look again at this passage of Scripture in Romans, Chapter 8. Now, go back over here.

Watch this. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. He's not talking about praying in tongues here. That's an utterance.

He's talking about groanings that can't be uttered. Do you know what a word is? A word is like a truck. A word is like a vehicle that delivers a thought from one person to another person. My words are the trucks, the vehicles that are getting my thoughts to you. But sometimes, you know, there's some thoughts that are too heavy for the truck.

I mean, we might have a four-ton problem and a two-ton truck. We may have something that we don't know what to ask for. We don't know how to ask it. We don't know how to articulate it. And they're just things, friend, that we don't know what to do. And the Bible says the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.

One translation gives it. There are many signs that are too deep for words. This word groanings is a word that's used for labor pains. Have you ever been there?

I've been there. Well, I've never had them, but I had those sympathetic labor pains. But you know, there's that groaning that sometimes is going forth.

She's not making a speech. She's just in agony. But it is a groaning, the desires to bring forth. There's a need, something that needs to be delivered to happen. And the Holy Spirit of God makes groanings that cannot be uttered.

It's a form of inarticulate prayer. I've been there. There was a problem in our family.

It broke my heart. I stained heaven with my prayers. And there came a time when I would just say, Oh, God.

That's it. I don't know how to pray. What to pray for? Just, Oh, God.

And you know what? The Holy Spirit was saying, Father, Adrian doesn't know what to ask for. He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit. And He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And you know sometimes we don't know how to pray, what to pray for.

But when you're in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit of God is helping you and praying, that's so wonderful. You know, if you go down the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, you look up here on these poles, and you'll see something called a transformer. It's a big box. And that heavy voltage comes into that transformer. And then it comes out of that transformer.

Those wires that come down to your house. It comes into your toaster that you toasted that bagel in this morning. Or it comes down to your refrigerator that kept your orange juice cold. It came down to your hair dryer that enabled you to blow and fluff your hair. Or it came down to those light bulbs and so forth. But you know if you just took that energy, as it comes into that transformer, and put it just right into your hair blower, you probably wouldn't have any hair or hair blower, you know.

Or put it into your toaster, you wouldn't have a bagel, you wouldn't have a toaster. Now it's the same energy, but it goes through a transformer. The Holy Spirit of God will take your prayers sometimes and put them in the divine transformer and make them adaptable. Now, to pray in the Spirit, how what?

How do you get started? First of all, you've got to get saved. You can't have the Holy Spirit unless you're saved. Romans 8, verse 9, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. Now, friend, without being saved, you cannot have the Holy Spirit.

But now wait a minute. You can be saved and the Holy Spirit of God can be in you and still not pray in the Spirit. Because not only do you have the Holy Spirit, He is to have you. You to be filled with the Spirit.

Not only is He to be resident, but He needs to be president. Why don't you pray? Oh, God, I admit that the problem in my prayer life is that I'm just carnally minded.

I don't want to pray. And it's because I've been walking according to the flesh, not according to the Spirit. Lord, I take myself off the throne. And I enthrone the Lord Jesus. Just fill me with the Spirit. Right now, Holy Spirit, I yield anew and afresh my heart, my life to you. Fill me, Spirit of God. Fill me, Spirit of God.

Take control of my life. And those of you who have never truly been saved, let me lead you in a prayer. Right now you can pray and ask Jesus Christ into your heart.

Now you may already be a church member, but I'm talking about being truly saved. Let me help you to pray. Would you pray like this? Dear God, I know that You love me, and I know that You want to save me. Jesus, You died to save me. Thank You for paying for my sin with Your blood on the cross. You promised to save me if I would trust You. I do trust You, Jesus.

Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. Save me, Jesus. And Lord Jesus, I thank You for saving me. You're now my Lord, my Savior, my God, and my friend. And Lord Jesus, give me the courage to make this public. In Your name I pray.

Amen. And if you prayed to receive Jesus Christ just now, we would love to celebrate with you and invite you to our Discover Jesus page on the website. There you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith. There's a response section as well where you can share your testimony with us or how this message has made a difference in your life. But especially if you've given your life to Christ just now, go to lwf.org slash radio and click on the tab that says Discover Jesus. Welcome to God's Forever Family.

Let us hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of this message in its entirety, call us at 1-877-LOVE-GOD and mention the title, Prayer. This message is also part of the insightful series, Foundations for Our Faith, Volume Two. For the complete collection, all 27 powerful messages, call 877-LOVE-GOD or go online to order at lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Prayer is warfare. And as you go to the Lord today, remember you have a helper who intercedes for you. We're so glad you joined us for today's study in God's Word.

Tune in next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding. This is an encouraging testimony we received on our website not long ago. Thank you for all these beautiful, heartfelt, loving sermons. Through Pastor Rogers' amazing faith and words, I was born again while listening on the radio. When I surrendered my life, heart and soul to Jesus that morning, I felt Jesus' presence. Thank you all.

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